The invention relates to the field of computer aided design (CAD). More specifically, the invention relates to CAD model search and retrievals.
Often times, in engineering, new designs of parts are modifications, improvements, or combinations of existing parts. For example, a company may have a particular part incorporating design improvements over a period of time of the same part. Furthermore, the improvements may involve incorporating designs of other parts. With utilization of computer aided design (CAD) software, a user may make modifications/improvements to a part for a new design without the costs associated with actually modifying/improving the part because the modifications/improvements may be performed in xe2x80x9cvirtualxe2x80x9d space as CAD models, i.e., on a computer.
As CAD is utilized to design parts in xe2x80x9cvirtualxe2x80x9d space, locating these previously designed CAD models can be very tedious because a user searching for a previously designed CAD model may have to search in various storage areas, such as, for example, various disk drives and various directories. Often times, the user searching for the CAD model has to rely upon either a previous user naming a file having the CAD model to describe the type of design or luck. Naming conventions for the file having the CAD model may relieve some of the problems associated with searching for previously designed CAD models, but often times, these naming conventions are not strictly followed, and these naming conventions of files may vary as the CAD model is subsequently modified. Additionally, since a CAD model may not necessarily have text associated with it, a textual search for files having particular CAD models of the desired part may be very difficult.
For example, a user may desire to modify/improve. a particular feature on a part, such as, for example, an attachment hole in the part. This attachment hole may be particular to the part, i.e., a particular attachment hole specifically designed for and integrated into the part. Since the only feature the user desires to modify/improve is the attachment hole, it would not be necessary and very time consuming for the user to design as CAD models both the part and the modifications/improvements to the attachment hole. In order to avoid designing the part, but instead, design the modifications/improvements to the attachment hole, the user is required to search for a file having the CAD model with the attachment hole or at least, the attachment hole.
In order to search for the attachment hole, the user may be required to know a particular given name of the attachment hole or search for files with the CAD model incorporating the attachment hole. In either search, the user would more than likely rely upon a textual search, i.e., a textual search of the file names that may include the desired CAD model or a textual search for: files that may include some textual information describing the CAD model.
Furthermore, once a file containing the desired CAD model is located, often times, the user is required to copy the file into a location familiar with the user. The user is often times limited as to how to copy the file because the user may either copy the entire file or open the file in its foreign location and try to locate the desired CAD model and feature, isolate the CAD model, and export the CAD model to the familiar location of the user. The former method may copy a file with undesired information, such as, for example, CAD geometry or CAD models utilized by a previous user to construct other CAD models associated with the desired CAD model, i.e., too much information. The latter method may require the user to navigate through the file in its foreign location to search for the desired CAD model, and this process may be difficult due to the file having the CAD models may include many layers or some of the geometry/CAD models may be turned invisible.